Word Play Quilts

Learn the easy secrets to creating dynamic free-pieced letters for your quilts - with no tracing and no measuring. Want your next quilt to send a special message? Now you can spell it out with no tracing, no templates, no paper-piecing, no applique, and no precise measuring! "Word Play Quilts" teaches readers a terrific technique for free-pieced letters, as well as three practice projects and loads of quilt samples to instruct and inspire. This is your chance to break rules, mismatch, go wonky, and enjoy yourself.

This book is for quilters who love the look of traditional block quilts, and who want the freedom to create unique designs. You'll gain new confidence as you watch the author's quilts develop in a step-by-step process. An inspirational photo gallery throughout the book helps you visualize design concepts in a new light.

This title is filled with 17 eye-catching projects, plus expert hints and tips, for making the most of scraps, spares, and leftovers. Ever wondered what to do with all those extra pieces and odd bits you have lying about from previous projects? Here's the answer! Best-selling author Lynn Roddy Brown presents 17 eye-catching, precut-friendly quilts that make brilliant use of scraps and leftovers. Organized by the type of unit used - such as half-square triangles, quarter-square triangles, four-patch units, and nine-patch units - this unique collection has something for everyone.

Davis's designs, which range from skulls to owls to alarm clocks, are a far cry from the traditional designs of years past. Yet all of them draw on simple squares and rectangles, and all are inspired by traditional techniques.

It s true just a simple item from your make-up bag can put the perfect touch on your quilt! Cecile Trentini s featured quilt of 365 blocks (one for each day of the year) celebrates the extraordinary beauty of ordinary life with perfectly round and richly embellished cotton cosmetic pads. Take advantage of the pads small scale and soft surface to experiment with a variety of stitching styles, plus mixed-media and surface design techniques. Soak up unique inspiration with hundreds of gorgeous variations on a theme. Give new life to leftover ribbons and lace, buttons and beads, sequins and tulle, and more!"

The main character of Coretta Scott King Award and Caldecott Honor winner Tar Beach returns in this imaginative exploration of words, with illustrations that echo artist Faith Ringgold's famous story quilts. Join Cassie, the main character from the picture book Tar Beach, as she takes readers on a tour of her home, neighborhood, and school, introducing dozens of new words and their meaning. Young readers will relish the beautifully designed spreads, each with its own quilt motif. A perfect storytime for kids of all ages, the bright, boldly colored pages will attract even the youngest lookers, while teaching vocabulary and important pre-reading skills to older children.

The energy, bold accents, and contrasts speak for themselves in these 24 projects. In the friendly, you-can-do-it tone that is her trademark, German quilt designer Bernadette Mayr offers you new ways to think about freestyle color piecing. These new designs offer you very colorful, playful, wild, and geometric quilts to make, or to make your own by experimenting with color. A few smaller projects, like pillows and a silk evening bag, focus color play into a smaller piece. This guide also serves as a complete resource for new quilters, offering 14 lessons on the important basic quilting skills like cutting shapes, freehand machine embroidery, and quilt assembly.

As seen on The TODAY Show! Break out of that rut and fall in love with your life again by joining stand-up comic, SiriusXM host, and mom of six Jennifer Fulwiler in finding your blue flame. Every one of us has a blue flame--a special skill, a personal passion, a gift or talent. But when caught up in life's busyness, it's too easy to make a habit of suppressing our most joyful contributions to the world. As Jennifer learned, the secret to a life you love isn't necessarily jumping the track, quitting your job, or hustling to make your dream your full-time reality. Rather, it's about doing more of what makes you come alive in your actual life. Your Blue Flame is your upbeat playbook to rekindling your energy, sparking those meaningful "first loves" back to life again, and discovering the unique way each one of us can make the world a better, brighter place. With Jennifer's wit and straight-forward, practical insights, this helpful guide will show you: How to channel your blue flame's contagious energy Why your blue flame is both personally fulfilling and a sacred duty to others Tips and tricks to boldly make time for your passions How to rethink dreaming big for your actual life No matter where you are in life, you'll be inspired with stories of others who found their flames, like the couple who packed up their three kids and moved to a farm, the woman who discovered a passion for letter-writing at age ninety-five, and of course Jennifer's own story of self-producing her own stand-up comedy tour after being turned down by the entertainment industry establishment. It's been said that the glory of God is the soul fully alive. It's time to start chasing our spark, and Your Blue Flame will show you how.

Faith, family, hard work, and second chances are at the core of every great American story, and Jenny Doan’s story is just that. In her new memoir, How to Stitch an American Dream, readers will discover the behind-the-scenes success story of the Missouri Star Quilt Company and Jenny’s remarkable journey to overcome hardship, claim the abundance of family, and ignite the power of giving—all while revitalizing a small town along the way. Over the last decade, the Doan family business, the Missouri Star Quilt Company in tiny Hamilton, Missouri, has grown from Jenny’s corner shop--with one quilting machine and two bolts of fabric for sale in the back--to become the largest supplier of pre-cut quilting fabric in the headquarters of Jenny’s world-famous YouTube tutorial videos. Jenny is now giving her fans, the business world, and moms of all ages (and grandmas too!) what they’ve been asking for: the full story of her journey, from her humble beginnings as a homeschooling mom, to founding MSQC in her fifties, through the remarkable success and inspiration she’s so well-known for today. In this book, you’ll learn: How she and her beloved husband, Ron, raised seven children on a shoestring budget— and had fun doing it; How, after a string of bad luck, the family made a prayer-based decision to leave California behind and start over again in rural Missouri, even though they had no place to live, no jobs lined up, and no idea how they were going to make it; How Jenny, Ron and their children worked side-by-side to patch together a family home out of a crumbling shell of a farmhouse; And how their faith, hard work, and generosity not only carried them through the hard times, but led directly to the success of the Missouri Star Quilt Company. How to Stitch an American Dream will make you laugh, cry, say “bless your heart.”

A collection of modern quilting projects you can create with scraps. Are scrap piles wreaking havoc in your sewing space? Not sure what to do with all those tiny bits of gorgeous prints you hate to part with? Modern quilters Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison share a passion for scraps, and they’re here to help you get creative with 16 scrappy quilt projects that include piecing, appliqué, and improvisational work. This book has ideas on how to adapt patterns for your own personal “Sunday morning” style, plus tips for effectively cutting, storing, and organizing your scraps. Your Sunday mornings just got a whole lot cozier! “Sunday Morning Quilts shows you how to use every last scrap of treasured fabric in your collection…The book champions the original ethos behind patchwork—make do and mend…The quilts are bold, bright and clean, and the co-authors actively encourage you to be creative and to come up with your own designs.”—Popular Patchwork Magazine